Worldwide, under the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), saker falcons are listed as endangered and classified as Appendix II under the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). CITES has gone so far as to propose trade bans on saker falcons for all nations participating in falcon trade, including Mongolia. However, saker falcons are not listed in Mongolia’s Red Book of endangered species and not specifically addressed in the Hunting Laws or the Law on Fauna.

Saker falcons can currently be legally exported from Mongolia by paying one fee to the Mongolian government and by obtaining a CITES permit, which includes a separate fee.

The Government has set exportation limits for saker falcons at 300 birds per year. However, the Mongolia branch of CITES reports that exportations exceeded the legal limits for 2002, 2003 and 2004. Most of Mongolia’s saker falcon exports are alleged to be sent to the Middle East, where the largest percentage of the world’s falconry trade takes place.

In 2004 alone, 400 saker falcons were legally exported from Mongolia, producing over USD$1.8 million in revenue for the Government.

Studies by the Biology Institute of Mongolia in 2000 estimated Mongolia’s saker falcon population dropping to only 2,200 breeding pairs. A follow up study in 2003 reported that the same breeding area populations had decreased by as much as 50 percent.

Reports in local media discuss the arrests of individuals who are caught with large numbers of pigeons, usually used as bait for trapping saker falcons. Even historically from 1993 to 1999, there were 16 known attempts to smuggle a total of 69 falcons from the country. The majority of these cases dealt with foreign nationals.

Unofficial reports state that in 2004 there were as many as 250 saker falcons trapped and taken from Sukhbaatar aimag alone.

In a study on illegal wildlife trade in Mongolia the Wildlife Conservation Society stated, “The extent to which these different factors contribute to the saker decline in Mongolia requires urgent analysis. However, it appears that a major factor in the recent decline has been an unsustainable trade with the Middle East in Mongolian saker falcons.”

Prices for well breed and trained saker falcons can run as high as USD$30,000 on the international falconry market.

(Saker falcon image courtesy www.canadianraptorconservancy.com)